NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - A recent ruling by the Kenyan National Environment Tribunal putting on hold the construction of a controversial coal-fired power project in Lamu County came as a relief to many Kenyans and environment champions, not forgetting the Lamu people who were going to be directly affected by the Project.

This, however, was not the case with the US Ambassador to Kenya, Kyle McCarter, whose Boss, President Donald Trump, has expressed bias regarding such climate-polluting technologies viewed as contributing to the accumulation of Greenhouse Gases. In a string of tweets seemingly meant to insinuate the five-judge bench that delivered the ruling at the Supreme Court was misguided, and worse still, incompetent, Mr McCarter exhibited the true personality of President Donald Trump, who has pulled his country out of the landmark Paris Agreement and any globally-agreed framework to combat climate crisis.

Yet we have seen better American envoys in Kenya. A day like thisJuly 7 was always a time to watch in the history of Kenya, as champions of democracy pushed for multi-partism. Such pushes were supported by one Smith Hempstone, a US Ambassador to Kenya between 1989 and 93, and who was an aggressive vocal proponent of democracy for Kenya. He wanted the best for Kenya, unlike his equal now, who has clearly displayed dislike for this country by supporting the dangerous Lamu power project.

Though the ruling is not afinality - an Environmental Impact Assessment study has been ordered conductedand a licence issued to the AMU Power to proceed with work on the ground cancelled - the tribunal ruling was a deserved victory for thousands of Lamu residents, Kenyans and well-wishers who have battled this toxic project.    

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the AMU Power were also admonished for not ensuring adequate public participation on the project and asked to do better. And as we wait to see whether AMU Power and NEMA will appeal within 30 days after the ruling as advised by the tribunal, we can only wish that McCarter was not intimidating an independent institution to serve his partisan interest, which we all know – President Trump’s climate-denial diplomacy.

In the past, the US was a global moral paragon of hope, standing with the most vulnerable, the powerless and those at the frontline of autocratic persecutions.

Currently, however, Trump, and to an extent, his representatives, stand for the opposite of what their predecessors stood for – standing with the mighty against the poor and those facing environmental and human rights abuses worldwide. Tragically, this should be the lowest moment for the United States.

That a US government official appointed by the President himself would appear to belittle arguably the most independent Judiciary in Africa, and champion implementation of a project thatwill clearly leave voiceless people more troubled than they have been, with more debts than they can manage, cannot be fathomed.

It is absurd, and indeed beats logic that a person of McCarter’s ilk can openly lie that coal is “environmentally sound” in a continent where no one has ever witnessed even the mere rehabilitation of a dumped mine. Facing pressure from communities, thousands of coal mines have been decommissioned across United States.

Though Trump promised to promote coal as the main source of energy during his term, few, if any, have been establishedsince he took over from his predecessor, President Barrack Obama.

Assuming that the Lamu Coal Project would lead to growth of theKenyan economy; have we analysed the opportunity cost?

We have many unexploited options, if the growth of Kenya’s economyis the true motivation for such a project. We have agriculture, tourism, art, ports, energy, transport and many other safer economic pillars that would grow this economy without harming a fly, but they have not been exploited.

Even if we were to think of the energy sector alone, wind and solar energy lie idle in this country, and we have not lacked power yet.

This only leaves questions in the minds of many: What interest does the US have in the coal-fired Project? How will the economy grow if the Kenyan taxpayer issubjected tounsustainable debts, even before we can start producing power? Do weneed the power produced in that manner when our renewable, safer and cleaner energy sources have not been scratched beyond the shallow surface?

And where is the assured demand for power that we should consider our already available sources inadequate and rush to import coal just to produce power for commercial purposes?

With coal companies staring at massive losses and bankruptcy due to community pressure in the US, China and the other major economies, the only destination to survive could be Africa and other poor regions of the world.Thus, McCarter’s ranting about the ruling by wise judges is not about the integrity of the energy source, but potentially precedent-setting ramifications to coal multinational corporations eyeing Kenya and African countries as dumping site for this obsolete technologyrejected by their citizens.

The US has always appeared as being against corruption. McCarter should open his eyes wider and see the mouths salivating for this Lamu project. There are, and there will be tenders, and there are rent-seekers. This McCartermust be knowing by now.

Secondly, the need to grow an economy must not supersede the need for human and other ecosystems to exist. Wedo not want to die just so that the economy can grow. Who would it be growing for?

Thirdly, this project would need importation of coal. Someoneis aiming to make profit, a huge one, by selling coal to us. Kenya is not desperate for power, more so if it has to come at the cost of biodiversity.

The US envoy can pretend to be ignorant about the climate-polluting, carbon emissions associated with coal-fired projects and argue that coal is “the cleanest, least costly option”. But he should be kind to tell us what to do with what we already have, of which we do not consume even 10%.

Just one expert at PACJA will be available to tutor Kyle McCarter– free of charge - on the dangers of coal: Out of our total energy, 70% is green. We generate 534MW from geothermal, and will by 2022 be doing 1,119MW. Our total geothermal potential is 10,000MW. We have not exploited wind and solar energy. The 365 turbines in Lake Turkana have a potential of 310MW.

The US Government must come clear on its interest on the coal-fired plant.

MithikaMwenda is the Executive Director Pan African Climate Justice Alliance

Mr Mwenda, has been nominated as the recipient of the 2019 EarthCare Award by United States of America’s largest Environmental Organisation, Sierra Club in recognition of his outstanding environmental advocacy in Africa and globally. He was recently named as one of the “100 most influential people in the world on climate policy”.

 
BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - At the UN climate talks, Civil Society Organisations from the global north and south, have raised alarm on what they term as incoherence and exclusion of key stakeholders from the implementation of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI).

At a meeting with the EU Head of Delegation, at the on-going climate talks in Bonn, Augustine Njamnshi, Coordinator of the African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access (ACSEA) said CSOs from both the global north and south are concerned with the direction of AREI, which he said has completely excluded key stakeholders from the process.

“As key stakeholders, we are extremely concerned AREI is almost taking a wrong direction—no information on what is happening and a total exclusion of all key stakeholders,” said Njamnshi. “We thought of engaging you as EU for we know that you remain a key observer and stakeholder of AREI so that you can take responsibility, and help to correct the situation.”
Njamnshi said the EU should not only be seen to play its observer role regarding projects, but also show leadership on governance of the project.

“The EU was actively involved at a meeting in Brussels at which projects were being discussed, so it is not right to say that the EU is just an observer when there are issues like what is happening where the initiative seems to have taken totally a wrong path, but then become active observers during project matters only,” said Njamnshi.  

AREI is an Africa-owned and Africa-led initiative of the African Union. It aims at harnessing Africa’s abundant renewable energy resources to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), enhance well-being, and sound economic development by ensuring universal access to sufficient amounts of clean, appropriate and affordable energy for all Africans.

As energy is the engine of economic development, AREI also seeks to help African countries leapfrog towards renewable energy systems that support their low-carbon development strategies while enhancing economic and energy security.

The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) aims towards the installation of 10 GW of new and additional renewable energy generation capacity by 2020 and at least 300 GW by 2030. In so doing, the Initiative aims to ensure access to energy while addressing climate change.

AREI was launched at COP21 in Paris in December 2015 and immediately received strong international support from development partners who committed to mobilise at least $10 billion cumulatively to harness Africa’s renewable energy potential and expand energy access across the continent.

However, It was heard at a combined meeting of both global north and south CSOs held on the side-lines of the UN Climate talks in Bonn, that the initial administrative and implementation phases (2017 to 2020) of AREI have been marred with uncertainty and secrecy, much to the detriment of the core objective of the Initiative—people centred and decentralised energy systems to reach all Africans who lack access.

“Decentralised energy systems should not only be about decentralising equipment but also decentralising decision making systems. And AREI has a unique feature anchored on multi-stakeholder engagement especially civil society but this has not been the case,” explained Njamnshi.

And Jacob Werksman, EU delegation leader at the SB50 talks, acknowledged the concerns of the CSOs and pledged to bring them to the attention of the people directly working on the AREI at the European Commission.

“We will bring this to the attention of the people who are directly working on it to see whether, through the EU’s role as an observer, could help to sort the issues that you have raised,” said Werksman.
He was however quick to point out that the European Commission’s cautious involvement in AREI could be as a result of concerns from some African leaders who, at a high profile meeting, openly expressed concern that the was over playing its role in the initiative, and a urged for a to push back so that AREI, could, as was intended, be led by Africans.

“Thanks for taking the time to meet us,” said Werksman. “This is a high profile initiative. Although we are not involved in terms of the day to day operations, we know about it, we are interested and care about it because it was intended to embody all these principals. We are however also aware that there was a high profile meeting at which some of the EU donors present made a very overt effort to influence the initiative and there was an extreme push back from some of the African partners saying,‘you said this was going to be African led, we think you are overplaying your role, please push back’,”he explained.

It is important to note that Germany non-governmental organizations are supporting African civil society in its efforts to promote the AREI’s human rights-based, climate-compatible and sustainable implementation approach.

They are committed to ensuring that the demands and positions of African civil society are heard by Germany decision makers in particular. As one of the largest donors to the initiative, Germany is seen to have a special responsibility to ensure that AREI projects and programmes do in fact contribute to climate protection and sustainable development.

In order to improve civil society support for the initiative, organizations such as Germanwatch and Brot für die Welt have been supporting the organization of workshops and meetings to improve the networking of African and international civil society and maintain constant communication with African partner organizations.

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Chile's Environment Minister and incoming COP25 President Carolina Schmidt and the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change Patricia Espinosa have officially co-signed the bilateral agreement which forms the legal basis for organizing and hosting the UN Climate Change Conference in Santiago de Chile, later this year.

Dubbed the “COP of action”, the conference (COP25) is scheduled for 2-13 December, 2019.

The theme is aimed building on the UN says was a successful outcome of COP24 that was held in Poland last year, which resulted in the Katowice climate package.

As the host of COP25, Chile has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its leadership on ambitious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Earlier this month, Chile announced its plan to completely phase out coal by 2040 and its objective to become carbon-neutral by 2050.

This is a major step for a country with a 40% coal share in their electricity mix and is a prime example of the type of action required to limit the global average temperature rise to as close as possible to 1.5°C, the central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The COP Presidency rotates among the following 5 United Nations regions: Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Chile's Environment Minister and incoming COP25 President Carolina Schmidt and the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change Patricia Espinosa have officially co-signed the bilateral agreement which forms the legal basis for organizing and hosting the UN Climate Change Conference in Santiago de Chile, later this year.

Dubbed the “COP of action”, the conference (COP25) is scheduled for 2-13 December, 2019.

The theme is aimed building on the UN says was a successful outcome of COP24 that was held in Poland last year, which resulted in the Katowice climate package.

As the host of COP25, Chile has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its leadership on ambitious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Earlier this month, Chile announced its plan to completely phase out coal by 2040 and its objective to become carbon-neutral by 2050.

This is a major step for a country with a 40% coal share in their electricity mix and is a prime example of the type of action required to limit the global average temperature rise to as close as possible to 1.5°C, the central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The COP Presidency rotates among the following 5 United Nations regions: Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.